Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson never shies away from sharing his opinion about his former team, especially when there are hot topics of discussion surrounding this team like there are right now heading into the 2024-25 NBA season.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Johnson was asked his opinion about the situation with Lakers rookie and son of LeBron James, Bronny James. There’s been a lot of debate about whether Bronny is even an NBA-level talent at this point in his basketball career and what new head coach JJ Redick and his coaching staff should do with the rookie to start the 2024-25 campaign.
Many believe that Bronny should spend the bulk, if not all, of his first season as a professional in the G League with the South Bay Lakers. It appears that Johnson also believes the 19-year-old should play in the G League right out of the gate and for his entire rookie season:
“If I’m Bronny, I would tell my dad just let me play in the G League all season so that I can develop,” Johnson said. “He needs playing time. He doesn’t need to be sitting on the Laker bench and not playing. And that’s not a knock against him, he’s just not ready. He needs to develop more, and then he will be ready. Because he has some great talent and skills, but he needs to develop those skills at a much better clip if he wants to play 15-20 minutes a night in the NBA or more.”
Since Johnson mentioned that Bronny should tell his father LeBron that he wants to play in the G League to start his professional career, the Hall of Famer was asked if he thinks the current face of the Lakers franchise is making him or trying to get him on the Lakers roster immediately:
“I wouldn’t say that because I don’t know that,” Johnson said. “But if I’m his father like LeBron is, he needs to develop. It’s just that simple. The Lakers have done a wonderful job of developing players, Caruso and all of these guys have developed under the Laker G League coach. So they’ve done a good job of bringing guys up and playing them in the NBA.”
At this point, it seems like the Lakers brass is trying to get Bronny on the floor with his dad to make NBA history, which has prompted some to speculate that the rookie could play right away.
Obviously, Redick and his coaching staff must make this decision, so there’s no telling which way the team will choose to use the rookie guard to begin the 2024-25 campaign.
JJ Redick doesn’t view coaching LeBron James and Bronny James as challenge
Coaching the Lakers as a first-timer with no experience on any level will be no easy task for JJ Redick, but he seems to be embracing the challenge, even though he’s got some tough situations to deal with.
One of those situations is coaching LeBron James and his son Bronny James, which could get complicated very quickly, but Redick doesn’t see it that way. He doesn’t view it as a challenge heading into his first season as the leader on the Lakers’ sideline.
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